While the people were starving, Bashar al-Assad and his British-born wife, Asma Akhras, were living a lavish lifestyle siphoning off the national treasury to their private bank accounts and pockets.
The fear that kept Syrian journalists in silence disappeared at the same moment Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus on December 8. Syrians can finally speak and write without fear of being tortured, thrown in prison, or killed for exposing Bashar and his Assad family in its reign of terror over the Syrian people since 2000.
Bashar was raised in privilege and power, but it was his London-born wife, a JP Morgan financial specialist, who took corruption to an unprecedented level. Bashar might have lasted years longer as president, had it not been for the over-the-top corruption instigated by his wife alone. Asma was never the victim, and history may recall it was the Syrian First Lady who brought down the Assad family in total to its knees, and forced dozens of Assad families to flee into the night to face a lifetime of exile. Meanwhile, Asma lies in a million-dollar mansion in Moscow while dying of leukemia.
Asma set up an NGO, the Syria Trust for Development (STD), to portray the Assad regime as humanitarians. The UN alone donated $130 million, and the international donor funds came pouring into Asma's office, which she alone controlled. The cash and donations were hoarded and distributed in a pattern that rewarded those loyal to the regime and to Assad family members.
In the aftermath of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, planeloads of international aid began arriving at the Damascus airport. Asma alone controlled the storage and distribution. Assad loyalists, regardless of their wealth, were rewarded with the supplies. Next, the corrupt officials Asma had hired hoarded stockpiles of the free aid, some of which expired while in storage, and some were sold to merchants.
The needy Syrian people were not the recipients of humanitarian aid. Asma and Basher fed themselves off the starving farmers and others without a source of income.
International humanitarian aid groups and watchdog knew what Asma was doing and had published many reports concerning her corruption.
Asma, through her right-hand businessman, known as Abu Ali Khader, monopolized cell phone imports, sales, and accessories. Her company was named "EmmaTel", as she had been called "Emma" by friends in the UK where she was born and raised. By threat of arrest, or prohibitive taxes, Asma prevented any competition from other businesses in cell phone sales.
Bashar and Asma placed over 100% taxes on any cell phone bought in Syria, including any cell phone bought from her exclusive company. For example, any iPhone sold around the world costs between $1,000 to $1,500; however, in Syria, it would cost about $3,000. The added profit was to pay for the Assad luxury at the expense of the people.
Bashar and his Assad family got telecommunication companies to come to Syria. SyriaTel was owned by Rami Makhlouf, the son of Bashar's maternal aunt. In the year 2019, a war broke out between Asma and Rami over the SyriaTel business.
Rami's worth was estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Asma threw Rami under house arrest in Damascus, confiscated the entire company and profits, and every other asset he owned.
Tarif Akhras, the paternal uncle of Asma, was designated the exclusive importer of sugar, wheat, and other staple items. The Assad family and their associated families were in Syria only to strip the country of its bones and profit from the suffering of the people.
Asma formed a security branch, reporting to her personally, which was tasked with business shakedowns. Key successful businessmen were identified, then Asma's thugs would arrest them and place them in detention. They would be forced to remain locked in a hotel room for a period of time, which was the psychological aspect of her evil plan. After a time, sometimes up to one month, the man would be given a demand in dollars and told they could go home if they summoned the prescribed amount to her office.
In another shakedown, successful real estate developers in Latakia and other coastal locations were publicly listed as accused of corrupt practices, such as paying bribes to get a building permit. The developers were forced by the Assad regime to pay bribes to get almost any document or procedure accomplished. If they had paid bribes, it was because it was a standard operating procedure to do business. Knowing this was the system, Asma's office exploited the situation to bring 36 Latakian developers into court for public shaming, and to force them into paying a 'fine' that was, in reality, an extortion payment. The money retrieved never went into helping the poor or maintaining infrastructure; instead, it went back into the designer purse of Mrs. Asma Assad.
The Assad dynasty is a family affair. Asma's brother Feras Akhras isn't named Assad, but she made sure he got his share of the Syrian pie at the expense of the people. After the Kurds and the US troops confiscated the oil and gas fields in the northeast of Syria, the people suffered from a severe electricity shortage. Most homes were receiving electricity in just three intervals of 30 minutes each per day. Gasoline was also short, so gas-powered generators could not be used. Chinese imported solar panels and batteries were in demand to fill the electricity needs. Syrian businessmen were prohibited from importing those items, as Asma designated her brother Feras as the exclusive importer of solar panels and batteries.
The Syrian oil production prior to 2011 was approximately 400,000 barrels per day. The profits made from export sales of the crude did not come back into the treasury but were deposited directly into private Assad bank accounts. Bashar inherited this process from his father's days of corruption.
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